Ed Henry: 'This isn't about a golf game'

2/18/13 10:15 PM EST

White House Correspondents Association president Ed Henry is standing by his complaints about the lack of press access to President Obama, pushing back against critics who say he and his fellow White House correspondents are just "whining" and don't respect the president's privacy.

"This is a fight for more access, period," Henry told POLITICO late Monday night. "I've heard all kinds of critics saying the White House press corps is whining about a golf game and violating the president's privacy. Nothing could be further from the truth."

"We're not interested in violating the president's privacy. He's entitled to vacations like everyone else. All we're asking for is a brief exception, quick access, a quick photo-op on the 18th green," Henry continued. "It's not about golf -- it's about transparency and access in a broader sense."

Henry, the chief White House correspondent for Fox News, released a statement Sunday "on behalf of the White House Correspondents Association," stating that "a broad cross section of our members from print, radio, online and TV have today expressed extreme frustration to me about having absolutely no access to the President of the United States this entire weekend."

"There is a very simple but important principle we will continue to fight for today and in the days ahead: transparency," said Henry.

The President was in Florida this weekend for a golfing vacation, where he was joined by golf-star Tiger Woods. A reporter from Golf Digest magazine was present at the club house and tweeted observations about the outing. The White House press corps, which had traveled to Florida with President Obama, was kept waiting outside.

"The press access granted by the White House today is entirely consistent with the press access offered for previous presidential golf outings," White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement at the time. "It's also consistent with the press access promised to the White House Press Corps prior to arrival in Florida on Friday evening."

President Obama did grant the press corps a ten-minute conversation on Air Force One on the flight back to Washington, D.C., Monday night, but that conversation was off the record. Some in the Beltway press corps, including Henry's Fox News colleague Greta Van Susteren, expressed frustration with reporters for accepting an off-the-record conversation with the president.

"Off the record? Is the press pool (that was angry all weekend at having no contact with the President on his golf vacation) now happy?," Van Susteren wrote on her blog. "Did they get a pat on the head from the President?"

Henry declined to address the off-the-record meeting, "out of respect for the president, and the instituon of the presidency," he told POLITICO. He added that "it is always a balancing act for people who decide to attend or not attend" off-the-record meetings.

But Henry said he agrees "with critics who say there shouldn't be a war over a golf game."

"But the point is: a simple photo op -- which we got when Obama when golfing with Speaker Boehner, with former President Clinton -- is just a basic, minimum level of access," Henry added. "It's a good gesture by the White House to show that they are serious about our concerns."